"Dam" Good Trail Run 20-ish K (aka "Sehgahunda Lite") 8/21/11

This race was the second I ran in a 5 day period (Wednesday was the Fleet Feet Dirt Cheap race at Webster Park).  I had kind of a score to settle with the Finger Lakes Trail (FLT) after it kicked my ass at Sehghahunda (STM) back in May.  Since then, I stepped up my mileage a bit, added speedwork weekly, and tempo runs every two to three weeks.  Speedwork was kind of non-existent in my STM training program because it wasn't about running fast - just finishing.  But in my training runs and the few races I've done this summer, the speedwork has helped a bit, but so has just running higher miles.  I'm the type of runner than doesn't really respond to "reinventing the wheel".  My race times have always been better with high mileage.  Duh.

This race was also my motivation to keep up with the training during the summer.  This is the first summer since I started running where I haven't had an insanely busy schedule (right now it's just "busy") or I was injured (be in a Baker's cyst in my knee, or anterior & posterior tibialis tendonitis).  Plus, I'm not a fan of the humidity. While my paces haven't been par, they are improving.  So this has not been a speedy summer, but instead it's been one of base building for fall and winter races (which I enjoy more) and staying injury free.

I've only run on the FLT at Letchworth State Park once since STM, but I knew that this race would be easier.  It's on a relatively flat, non technical part of the trail.  And while we have had some rain over the past few weeks, we went for nearly a month with practically none, so the trails weren't nearly in as terrible conditions as they were for STM, and the gullies weren't so deep that your feet got drenched at every crossing.

I had just a few goals for this race:  to not be dead fuggin' last, to maintain a steady pace, and to not feel like death at the end.  SPOILER ALERT:  all three accomplished.

James Roche, Holly Kuzmiak-Ngiam, Jim McLaughlin, me, Beth DeCiantis

I woke up tired, as I've worked 12 hour shifts in the days leading up to the race.  I drove down with my friend Beth, who is one of the best runners out there (former Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier, and current USATF Niagara Region 5k Master's Champ.  It was lightening and pouring rain during the hour-long drive to Letchworth, and I was nervous about how bad the trail was.  But it let up by the time we got there, although it was soupy-humid.  There were three other Endurance Team members running, as well as countless Fleet Feet Racing Team folks.  Frankly, we all love this trail and the challenges it brings.

I settled in the back of the pack, and just stayed there, for the most part.  I did get stung by something at about mile 3 or 4 that required EpiPen interventions...not the smartest decision in my life, but I have nver been a DNF and didn't want to make this my first.  I have myself the injection, walked for quite a bit until the jitters wore off, and kept going, keeping my pace around 13-14 min/mile.  I walked one long hill, and stayed diligent on my hydration and nutrition.

Since STM (which was a fueling FAIL since my stomach was doing backflips and I couldn't choke down any of my nutrition with which I trained), I've been experimenting with Hammer nutrition:  with HEED, Perpetuem and their gels.  For this race I normally would use HEED, but with the humidity (and figuring this was going to take me around 3 hours) I carried Perpetuem in one water bottle, and water in the other and took sips of each every 15 minutes.  Had a couple gels with me, but never used them - the three aid stations had animal crackers and Skittles (among other treats), which were just awesome.  The strategy worked - the Perpetuem was not overkill for this particular race, and I really didn't feel too tired until after around mile 10 (which I expected).

Coincidentally about this point is were a rotting tree branch broke off and hit me smack in the head.  Clearly karma was testing me or pissed off.  But I had to keep going. My body was starting to get sore:  my feet hurt and my ankle was feeling a little tender from prancing over some of the rooty-er sections of the trail.  I was starting to feel a little thankful that I didn't have far to go, and I was glad that the last couple miles of the race were pretty flat.

My finish time was 3:12:05, with a 22-second handicap offered to runners carrying their own water bottle my "official" time was 3:11:43.  Far from stellar (3rd to last), but I felt really good afterwards.  Maybe next year I can go a little harder.  The finisher awards were kinda cute, too (and I was not expecting one)